Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Tuesday Tip No.34 - How To Write Press Ads

What there is, is an utter myth - and I wish I knew who invented it, because I would send round my man to administer a sharp slap around their chops - that there's a special type of ad that consumers are 'willing to spend a bit more time with', 'can legitimately require some working out', or 'does not have to be instant.'

Horse shit.

Press ads have to fight harder for attention, in my view, than any other medium you could name. Let's take radio. The consumer will inevitably listen to your ad - it is too hard to reach out and switch the thing off while you are ironing. Take cinema. The consumer is in a darkened room, staring at nothing except your ad, on a giant screen.

But press? Your ad is competing directly against Britain's wittiest columnists. Against news stories about wars, financial collapses, rapists and amnesiac canoeists. Against a paparazzi picture of Lindsay Lohan falling out of a taxi.

Unless you can place your ad on Lindsay Lohan's knickers, how are you going to get it looked at?

The answer is you have to make it simple, with a never-seen-before visual and fresh design.

Don't write headlines until you've miserably failed to come up with a purely visual solution.

And whatever you do, don't write copy. This isn't 1959, when a chap would sit in his armchair, puffing on his favourite pipe, and have a good old mull over some finely-crafted advertising copy.

33 comments:

Funny, you could argue almost the opposite. That true press ads are the ones that are actually winning these days in the outdoor and poster categories. Outdoor awards should be reserved for those ideas that can truly only be accomplished in that medium (Economist Lightbulb, Time Pendulum, McDonald's Sun Dial), not just oversized press ads.

Press ads? Posters? who gives a fuck really, only people who work in the Industry, just stick a picture of the product on a page, thats enough, NO ONE CARES A FUCK about how beautifully art directed or written it is. Thats why after ten years at a top five agency I'm out of here Bye and have fun, and don't waste your time and energy on below the line.

MOP's only care about the TV/moving stuff, hence the top ten ads of the year wont feature a page in the sun they saw back in fucking April.

Trouble is, writing is hard work. Much harder than coming up with a visual/design led solution. And it's no surprise that D&AD is full of the same old stuff. Visual puns with a rather straight line in 10 point type next to the logo in the bottom right hand corner. Creatives today follow the pack, they look at what got their CD into the book and do the same - so much for originality. We should embrace words and visuals in equal measure and while I agree, the long copy Albany Life ads from yesteryear are not what's needed today don't confuse that with the death of writing. Sure the Economist is an easy example to pick out but why not? That's brilliant writing. Young creatives out there - we're bombarded with millions of examples of design and visual stimuli on a daily basis and to break through we have to be brave enough to be different - and maybe that amounts to a few well chosen words

Considering you're telling us not to use copy in press ads, I find the title of this post ironic, but its content seems true enough.

I know this isn't exactly linked, but I thought I'd write it anyway, that one of the best ways to advertise in press is to get your product written about by the people the viewer paid to read in the first place. A good stunt, cryptic bit of PA etc can go a long way for a bit of insidious promotion. As they say, no press is bad press.

Scamp, I know what you're saying - we're living in a visual world. But I honestly believe that the best posters and print ads are a relentless combination of great visuals, brilliant and appropriate design - and yes - incisive writing. The final result may not have all three of those elements. But to sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper and dismiss writing before you even start is just, well, wrong.

This isn’t about visual-led or copy-led solutions. It’s just about what works. After all, if everyone went ahead and did purely visual ads, wouldn’t you immediately advise your clients to go for long copy? The old ‘when everybody zigs, zag’ principle?

The fact is that the written word is a brilliant invention for conveying complex ideas in a few squiggles. Which makes it an incredibly handy tool for advertisers. (Newspapers understand this – that’s why the tabloids use great big headlines on their front pages.)

Of course, that doesn’t mean you should set out to use as many words as possible, but nor should you deliberately try to avoid them. It’s as absurd as deliberately setting out to avoid illustration or using the colour purple – it just removes a useful tool from your armoury for no good reason.

And to say press ads are the same as posters... well, posters aren’t even the same as each other. It might be opposite a crowded bus stop, or on a road where the average speed is 50mph. Likewise with press ads. A long copy ad in the Daily Star might be a waste of time (although it could be fun). But if you’re stuck on a train with a copy of London Lite for half an hour, it could be a godsend. As long as it’s well written, nicely designed, relevant and entertaining. But that’s our job, isn’t it?

One the one hand, they don't have time to read copy. On the other hand, your press ad is competing with columnists, articles, news etc., which are still principally communicated via copy.

Is what you are saying that we can't compete with the vastly superior copy that fills newspapers, so don't even bother, and pretend to the client that it's to do with a demographic shift and that people are "time-poor" nowadays?

Between this and "How to Present to Clients," it paints a pretty lazy and uninspiring picture of what goes on during a day. A bunch of creatives sitting around, waiting for the account handlers to return from the client with news, all while refusing to attempt to write an ad because they can't compete with the excitement of an article about council tax.

Oh but you're so wrong! If we stay in the office, it's so we can do MORE WORK, while the account handlers are nattering in the back of a cab/ getting pissed on the train. Or playing with their blackberries.

And as for 'waiting for news' - we got 5 other briefs on, mate! Making you think that yours is all we are working on is just a little bit of politeness, which I didn't realise you'd fall for.

it's a print ad. newspapers are a fast read and magazines are bought for the editorial. so posterizing print ads makes complete sense. the word-less visual ad being the ideal. but if you have to put words in, you have to. i guess.

Seen the Wispa long copy ad Scamp? Do you want me to help wipe the egg from your face when it gets recognition next year? (And wouldn't it be ironic if that egg had been laid by your chicken crossing the road)

agree with j. the thing about CPB is that as much as anything they are exploiters of media as opposed to just being traditional craftsmen.

the mini work being a great example. their booklets actually got read. but they wouldn't had they at all resembled ad inserts. they were good content that happened to be in print form. as opposed to achingly "clever" print ads/posters that tends to fill UK creative awards lately.

I'm the anonymous above. Sorry, it was just a cheap dig I couldn't resist. As for reading press ads, yes I do. But I'm a copywriter so it's not a straight answer really, and I'm afraid I'll have to sit on the fence on this one. I've enjoyed your theory and the correspondence it's created, though. Richard

Sorry Scamp, I don't know who you are and you might be a bigshot in the industry with lots of awards, but you have no freaking idea how ads really work! Just asking, if you were to buy a nice home theater, what would look for? A half page space in an ad with a clever visual idea and a smart one-liner or solid info on the product, said in a way which you find beneficial?

I'd get my solid product info from the internet, not a press ad. Which brands would I research on the internet? The ones I like. And maybe a cool idea expressed with an interesting visual in a press ad could make me like a brand. Too easy!